Living in College Purgatory

Wi-Fi Gets A New Naming System

With the next generation of Wi-Fi connectivity, The Wi-Fi Alliance has announced a change to their naming policies. The names of the versions will now use numbers instead of letters at the end. The new naming convention will go as follows:

Wi-Fi 1: Previously Known As 802.11b

Wi-Fi 2: Previously Known As 802.11a

Wi-Fi 3: Previously Known As 802.11g

Wi-Fi 4: Previously Known As 802.11n

Wi-Fi 5: Previously Known As 802.11ac

Wi-Fi 6: Originally Known As 802.11ax

The Wi-Fi Alliance covers almost all companies and products that have anything to do with wireless connections. With the naming system, people will no longer have to search which version is the most up-to-date with security features and speed. Now people will know that the higher number represents the newest the market has.

The largest problem with this switch is how companies advertise it. Because it is so fresh, many companies already have ads stating they support 802.11ax connections. It’s very possible customers may be turned away from a product without proper explanation. However, most customers don’t understand the differences between the versions to begin with.

This new naming convention has been talked about for years and has almost become a running joke in the IT community for why they picked the letters to start with. Now with numbers, it is more intuitive to all and will hopefully lead to happier consumers and faster products.